After both declare increases, Apple, which is expected to pay $11.46 billion this year, squeaks by ExxonMobil, which will hand out $11.29 billion.

Last Tuesday, tech goliath Apple sweetened its quarterly common dividend 15%, to $3.05 a share from $2.65, dethroning ExxonMobil as the world's biggest dividend payer. On Wednesday, the world's largest publicly owned integrated oil company enriched its quarterly 10.5%, to 63 cents a share from 57 cents, but that wasn't enough. Had ExxonMobil (ticker: XOM) gone up one more cent, it would have retained its crown, a fact quickly noted by Howard Silverblatt, senior index analyst at S&P Dow...